Painting there is a badge of honor, with graffiti artists from around the globe making pilgrimages to New York for that purpose. This is the city where it all began, yet few know the back story.Graffiti New York fills that gap, detailing the concepts, aesthetics, ideals, and social structures that have served as a cultural blueprint for graffiti movements across the world. The book features approximately 1,000 images, complemented by texts by the authors and relevant players in the movement, as well as descriptive graphics and sidebars.Ranging from the birth of simple signature tags to today’s vibrant murals, and covering the ups and downs of the movement, the culture’s value system, its social framework, the various forms of graffiti, and significant artists and crews, Graffiti New York is a major addition to Abrams' superb books on graffiti art.

    Street Art in The Counterculture. Untitled II the irreverent book of street art has again been created without the collaboration of the artists and certainly without the permission of the wall owners. There are blatant statements that embody outrageous lies, articles laced with satire, plus cynical synopses of attempts to commercialize street art and make it fashionable via celebrity endorsement. Consideration is given to the question What the hell is it about the color grey that makes it appeal the powers that be and their ridiculous minions? and Outsider Art is it an expression of artistic impulse without interference from the idea of personal gain? All of this amongst a collection of graffiti collected from all over the world and preserved on these pages before the legions employed to destroy them chip them off the walls. Artists featured include Miss Van, Dan Witz, Ron English, Obey, Banksy, Blek le Rat, Swoon, Os Gemeos, and Herakut.